The Last Generation - Winston

I'm referring to the last generation of a fly rod series when the owner and a good percentage of Winston employees had a long-term, close, working relationship with  their previous owner, Tom Morgan. I point that out because it's a company culture thing that Tom instilled, which surely had an effect on rod designs and operations within the Winston company. And, the last rod series designed and built by those who worked and had a personal relationship with Morgan was most likely during the Pure and Air fly rod projects.

Winston Fly rods designed by Tom were the last breed of rods that were heavily focused on freshwater, with tapers specifically designed for trout. His Light Trout rods provided us with ten 2wt and 3wt model options for small streams and mountain creeks. And, that number is sixteen total models when you add his 4wt rods to the offering. Winston never again offered that level of specialty creek rods since they stopped producing the WT rod series.

The company has a new owner. Maybe now we will see renewed energy at Winston to enhance the number of small stream specialty rods for those of us who love exploring and fishing the Blue Lines, where the Leetle Fellers live and swim.